BENGALURU: The 14-month-old JDS-Congress government has been reduced to a minority as rebels stayed away from the first day of the legislative session on Thursday.
Despite CM H D Kumaraswamy moved the crucial trust vote in the assembly, rebels MLAs of the Congress and JDS, who are holed up in Mumbai, did not show up at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday.
The Congress received another jolt ahead of the trust vote, as Kagwad MLA Shrimant Patil mysteriously disappeared from the resort they were staying at near Yelahanka in the city on Wednesday night.
Now, without the support of the independents, coalition numbers have reduced to 99 and the BJP is at 105, making the latter confident of it winning the trust vote.
Though there was suspense and excitement over whether the rebels would return to the coalition, the disgruntled MLAs were a no-show.
Independent MLAs Shankar and Nagesh, who were flown to Bengaluru, did not take part in the proceedings as Shankar’s request for separate seating was turned down by Speaker Ramesh Kumar.
The coalition’s focus was on whether disgruntled Congress leaders Ramalinga Reddy, Soumya Reddy, Ajali Nimbalakar and Roshan Baig would participate in the session, while the opposition was busy doing headcounts.
In fact, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, who initiated the proceedings, was in no mood for deliberations, and wanted the CM to seek the vote right then.
Congress legislative party leader questioned the Supreme Court ruling that rebel MLAs were not compelled to attend the assembly session, while also saying the apex court ruling infringed upon his right to issue the whip.
The Congress also appealed to the Speaker to clarify questions regarding the SC ruling.